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In the works: The Ensemble Project, a cohesive, season-long lineup of plays culminating in a world-premiere work written for the company.

Kurner’s (fictional) alter ego is one small offshoot of an ambitious creative experiment aimed at reaffirming the mission of her company, New Village Arts Theatre. It’s called The Ensemble Project, and as the name indicates, it’s centered on cementing NVA’s identity as a theater built around a cohesive ensemble of artists.

The project actually has two parts. The first is a season’s worth of stage productions, all created by the same unified team of actors and designers — the theater’s resident ensemble (joined by a few guests).

The second part is the play that tops off the season. It’s a world-premiere work by Suzanne Bachner, with both story and characters inspired by the playwright’s extensive conversations with the ensemble members.

Bachner — a onetime grad-school classmate of Kurner’s at the esteemed Actors Studio in New York — already has sketched out characters for each member. (That’s where Mitzi comes in.)

The playwright got to know the team by meeting with them individually at some favorite place around the county. (Kurner’s choice was a beach near her home in southern Oceanside, which is within walking distance of the theater.)

Then, after informing them of character names and details, Bachner had them gather recently — in costume and in character — to play improv games and share the “theme songs” they’d chosen for those stage counterparts. (For Mitzi, Kurner went with Springsteen’s “Thunder Road.”)

While the Ensemble Project has its playful aspects, the season includes some weighty works as well — John Steinbeck’s “Of Mice and Men” and Sam Shepard’s “Buried Child” among them.

The project coincides with NVA’s 10th anniversary, a milestone that, as it approached, had Kurner pondering what defines her theater, and how best to express that onstage.

“You hit 10 seasons, you start to look at, ‘Who are we, where do we want to go?’ ” she says. “I was doing a lot of (reflecting) about what it means to be an ensemble in San Diego.”

About that time, she was in New York for seminars and happened to meet up with Bachner.

“I said that what I’ve always wanted to do is take this amazing group of people and create original work,” Kurner recalls. “And Suzanne said, ‘You know, I do that!’ ”

The project, whose artistic director is ensemble member Amanda Sitton, officially launches Aug. 3 with a staging of Eugene O’Neill’s sole comedy, “Ah, Wilderness!” Before that, though, the company is hosting a fundraising “family picnic” July 9 that ties in with the outdoor themes of the O’Neill play.